The Odyssey: Black Athena rises from the grave

American Thinker ^ | 05/18/2026 | J.R. Dunn

[SeekAndFind]

There are a number of questions regarding the whole Odyssey saga. One is how somebody as smart as Christopher Nolan got entangled with woke nonsense in the first place. (And yes, Nolan is smart – anybody who could take a storyline as convoluted as that of Memento and make it not only comprehensible but enthralling to the average audience is no slouch when it comes to intellect.) Another is why he felt compelled to pick up wokism just as it’s collapsing in the culture at large. It’s May 1945 in the Wachenbunker and everybody else is fleeing – but here comes Nolan racing through the ruins.

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p>Another one involves the rebirth of Black Athena.

Black Athena: The Afroasiatic Roots of Classical Civilization was a 1987 book (there were two other volumes, but nobody paid any attention to them) by British academic Martin Bernal. Written under the impetus of political correctness, the '80s version of wokism, Black Athena argued that the bulk of Greek culture of the classic period was derived from Africa, specifically from Egypt, but by extension from sub-Saharan Africa. (Bernal knew full well that the Egyptians weren’t black, but that made no difference.)

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Bernal was the son of the legendary British physicist J.D. Bernal, who among other things was to first to suggest building massive orbital colonies, decades before Gerard O’Neill revived the idea in the 1970s. He was also a fanatic communist, which he passed on to his offspring.

Is this beginning to come together?

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[dfwgator]

One is how somebody as smart as Christopher Nolan got entangled with woke nonsense in the first place.

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“To get along, you go along.”

[SeekAndFind]

Actual scholars of classical Greece, pharaonic Egypt, and archaeology were merciless toward Black Athena. Martin Bernal’s problem was that his specialty was Chinese history, and he had no background in Greece, Egypt, Africa, or any other relevant topic. The result was shoddy scholarship, wild leaps of logic, and wild-eyed speculation on the YouTube video level. Bernal did not need to wait for the internet to be exposed to cranky ideas. He carried around his own internet in his head.

So Black Athena was forgotten is short order. Until now.

The book has risen from the grave thanks to the argument concerning Christopher Nolan’s casting Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman of the ancient world. Forget the fact that Helen was Greek, that Homer describes her as fair-skinned (well, he was blind, so what did he know?) Black Athena says that the ancient Greeks were actually black. Kind of. Or could have been, which is same thing.

[tennmountainman]

Black Helen of Detroit.

[joshua c]

oscar fever

[V_TWIN]

Don’t you mean La’helenika?

[Craftmore]

Dey wuz kangs

[Steven Tyler]

should’ve Big Mike as Achilles....

[stanne]

From Reddit:
“This is what Christopher Nolan said in an interview about not winning a single Oscar in his life so far:

“This is how I honestly feel: I’ve been nominated for an Oscar many times. My films have had multiple nominations. The Academy has honoured my films in spectacular fashion, and I couldn’t be happier. You don’t take on a story because you think you’ll win a prize. That’s absurd. We want our films to be the most exciting, emotionally engaging, and enjoyable blockbusters. I’m happy with that.”

[Billthedrill]

I asked this question on a liberal board and didn’t get an answer: How is this not crude cultural appropriation? I mean, is it OK when “we” do it?

[hanamizu]

Christopher Nolan got entangled with woke nonsense in the first place.

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Don’t the new qualifications for Oscar Best Picture require major roles being filled by minorities and the alphabet people? Didn’t Musk bring this up?

[SeekAndFind]

[Tell It Right]

Hit tip to FReeper pookie18 for this morning's Today's Toons:

[tennmountainman]

I’ll pass on watching this movie.

[SeekAndFind]

I nominate Tom Cruise to play the lead role of Uncle Tom in a remake of the movie: UNCLE TOM’s CABIN.

[ClearCase_guy]

I figure there is a 1% chance that Nolan is smart enough to have these thoughts:

“I can kill two birds with one stone. If I make piece of crap movie that checks all the Oscar boxes, the Academy will finally give me an Oscar, for the worst movie I have ever made. That will show everyone how stupid the Academy is. It will serve them right. And in addition, this stupid woke stuff seems to be dying, which is great. But if I make a really crappy movie which is just dripping with Woke stuff, it will really put the final nail in that coffin. It’s worth it. And the movie will probably make money, so the studio won’t really be mad at me. I’ll be performing a service.”

[Rummyfan]

The studio is pulling out all the stops - I saw promos for 60 Minutes devoting a segment to Nolan and his new flick. That’s got to be worth many millions of free advertising. But I predict a disaster. Zendaya as Athena? Lupita Can’t-spell-her-surname as Helen?! GMAFB.

[BFW]

Oh ‘we was kings and sh*&’ again?

loser writing and loser BS..

wakonda fors ever......

what ev...

It’s life Jim, it’s just still living in mud huts...

[proust]

I wish Nolan was even half as good as he seems to think he is.

[Rummyfan]

Also read that Nolan required that Odysseus’ ship actually be sea-worthy and as period authentic as possible. Then he has other warriors clad like they’re from Star Wars. And the dialogue is all colloquial American English.